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Background and Recovery of Northern Rockies and Yellowstone Area Wolves
Legal Action for Wolves
August 3, 2011 - Judge Donald Molloy reluctantly upholds the constitutionality of wolf rider. While Defenders was not a party to this lawsuit, it is clear from Molloy's decision that he had serious doubts about the constitutionality of the wolf rider and considered it a clear violation of "the spirit of the ESA."
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Even the majestic Yellowstone National Park—America’s first and most famous national park—could not serve to protect this maligned species, with the last of Yellowstone’s wolves killed in 1926.
It wasn’t until almost 50 years later that wolves became one of the first species listed under the Endangered Species Act, thus setting the stage for wolf recovery. Today, wolves once again roam the Northern Rockies, though their future remains uncertain.
Read Defenders' award-winning publication, Places for Wolves, to learn more about wolf recovery strategies for the Northern Rockies and other places in their historical range.
Restoring Wolves to the Northern Rockies
The return of wolves to the Northern Rockies was initiated by animals seeking new territory from the north. Wolves from Canada began to recolonize northwestern Montana by the late 1970s, and the first litter of pups to be born in this region in half a century was documented at Glacier National Park in 1986.
A year later, Defenders began to compensate Montana ranchers for verified livestock losses to wolves in a proactive effort to appease concerns about wolf depredation (see Northern Rockies Wolf Chronology).
The wolf population continued to expand, and by 2010, the Northwest Montana Recovery Area supported an estimated 326 wolves and 21 breeding pairs. Although population growth in northwestern Montana has been highly unstable due to extensive lethal management and illegal killing of animals (read Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2010 Annual Report). Montana is in the midst of a wolf hunting season (see their wolf hunting regulations).
Yellowstone National Park
Meanwhile, efforts to restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho date back more than three decades, when Defenders and other concerned parties began to actively pursue their recovery.
The Endangered Species Act requires the FWS to prepare recovery plans for threatened and endangered species. In 1987, the FWS approved a revised Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Plan that established three official wolf recovery areas in the Northern Rockies: northwestern Montana (discussed above), central Idaho, and the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Although lone wolves had occasionally been sighted in the latter two areas, no evidence of breeding populations had been documented. Thus, in June 1994, after several years of intense political and legal activity, the FWS issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement to reintroduce wolves to central Idaho and Yellowstone. The reintroduction was officially approved after a year of public hearings and an unprecedented show of support from more than 100,000 impassioned Americans.
Despite attempts by the American Farm Bureau Federation to block wolf reintroduction through the courts, 29 wolves from Canada were successfully reintroduced to Yellowstone and central Idaho in 1995.
But even as the national spotlight shined on these pioneer wolves, anti-wolf factions continued to undermine the government’s wolf recovery efforts, and sympathetic members of Congress ultimately withdrew Federal funding before the second phase of the reintroduction was complete.
Fortunately, private donations from the American public—channeled through Defenders of Wildlife and other wolf advocacy organizations—enabled reintroduction to move forward in 1996. An additional 37 animals were released the next year, and wolves soon began mate and bear young in their newly established home.
As of the end of 2010, 705 wolves wandered the wilds of central Idaho (PDF map), and another 453 inhabited the Greater Yellowstone Recovery Area (PDF) —with 11 packs (PDF) residing within Yellowstone National Park (see above map of Greater Yellowstone Recovery Area).
In January 2008, a radio-collared wolf from Idaho was confirmed to be living in northeast Oregon (see our press release). In July 2008, the first known wolf pack in Washington state in nearly 70 years was documented near Methow. And in Colorado, a wolf from the Yellowstone population was killed by a vehicle on the highway near Boulder, Colorado, demonstrating that wolves are attempting to expand into new portions of their historic range.
As of October 2011, there are 4 packs residing in Oregon, and 5 wolf packs have been confirmed in WA. There are no confirmed wolf packs in Colorado or Utah, and the proposed agreement between the Department of Interior and the State of Wyoming on a management plan for wolves will make it even more difficult for wolves to disperse to these states.
Download a copy of the FWS Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2010 Interagency Annual Report, and view tables and maps showing 2010 wolf pack and population data for the Northern Rockies.
Ecological Benefits of Wolf Recovery
After decades without wolves, the Northern Rockies are once again reaping the ecological benefits of a thriving wolf population. As a native top predator, the wolf plays a pivotal role in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
The return of wolves to Yellowstone, for example, is helping restore the diversity of life within the park's ecosystem. Elk, an important prey species, have altered their grazing behavior now that wolves are once again on the prowl—elk herds can no longer linger in open meadows and wetlands since wolves use these open meadows for hunting.
Changes in elk grazing behavior have allowed streambed vegetation like willow and aspen to recover from years of overbrowsing, and these re-established trees provide habitat for native birds and fish, beaver, and other species.
Indeed, the enduring health and stability of the Northern Rockies’ wolf population has ecological ramifications both within and well beyond the immediate region. As wolves continue to breed and disperse, this population represents a potential source of individuals to recolonize native wolf habitat in the Southern Rockies where there are currently no known breeding populations of wolves, and the Pacific West, where the first recolonizing wolf packs were documented in July 2008(see dispersal map below).
Financial Benefits of Wolf Recovery
In addition to having profound ecological effects, wolf restoration has benefited local economies in the Northern Rockies (read Wolves and People in Yellowstone: Impacts on the Regional Economy).
Gateway communities near Yellowstone National Park have reported an economic boon from the return of the wolf. In fact, more than 150,000 people visit Yellowstone each year specifically because of wolves, bringing $35 million in annual tourist revenue to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The economic impact of this figure effectively doubles once money filters through local communities.
And of course, the recreational, spiritual, and aesthetic benefits of wolf recovery to the American people—whose support and commitment brought wolves back to their rightful place on the Northern Rocky landscape—are invaluable.
Meeting the Challenges
Although wolves in the Northern Rockies provide clear benefits to both natural and human communities, wolf recovery continues to experience vocal opposition from some hunters and livestock producers.
The concerns put forth by these constituencies are primarily rooted in anti-wolf values versus on-the-ground reality. There is no evidence that wolves deplete populations of elk or other game animals over extended periods of time or across large regions. In Idaho, for example, elk populations (totaling more than 100,000 elk statewide) have remained stable over the past several years, and elk hunters have reported banner years recently despite the growth of the state's wolf population (see www.westernwolves.org).
In 2010, according to WGFD population counts, elk numbers statewide were more than 21,200 animals above the objective—counting only 28 of 35 herds (7 herd units were not counted as not all herd units are counted each year).
"The Department continues to manage to reduce Wyoming’s elk numbers. The total population of the herds with estimates increased by 16 percent in 2009 and is now 29 percent above the statewide objective of 83,640 animals." (Annual Report 2010 Wyoming Game and Fish Department, emphasis ours)
In 2009, populations of elk in Montana were 66% larger than in 1984 Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates the 2010 elk population to be 117,880.
Unlike wolves, which tend to pursue injured and weak animals, hunters typically target animals in prime reproductive condition—thus having greater potential to reduce elk population growth. In fact, scientists in the western U.S. have seen declines in some elk herds where there are no wolves at all, likely due to stress caused by years of drought conditions, invasive weeds that reduce native forage, and increased ATV usage in remote habitat.
Similarly, livestock losses to wolves in the Northern Rockies have been very limited, with wolf recovery having a low impact on the ranching industry overall. Wolves are responsible for less than 1% of documented annual sheep losses in Idaho; for instance, in 2010, 148 sheep were confirmed to have been killed by wolves, while thousands died of health problems, predation from coyotes and domestic dogs, harsh weather, and poisoning from ingesting toxic plants (see www.westernwolves.org).
Defenders of Wildlife recognizes the significance of those wolf conflicts that do occur, however, and established The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust to compensate ranchers at market value for livestock losses due to wolf predation while wolves are under Federal protection. In August 2010, after 23 years of helping livestock owners in the Northern Rockies by paying more than $1.4 million for verified losses to wolves, Defenders shifted the focus to wolf coexistence partnerships and currently funds a variety of projects for range rider, guard dogs and portable fencing .
To further reduce conflict between imperiled predators and humans, Defenders created The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Proactive Carnivore Conservation Fund in 1998. This innovative program seeks to prevent livestock losses due to predators and predator losses due to unnecessary lethal control by advancing wildlife-friendly livestock husbandry practices.
In 2004, Defenders formed the Livestock Producer Advisory Council, made up of sheep and cattle growers, to help guide policies related to The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf and Grizzly Compensation Trusts and proactive programs. Together, we published "Livestock and Wolves: A Guide to Nonlethal Tools and Methods to Reduce Conflicts" in 2008 to help more livestock producers and agency managers reduce livestock losses to wolves.
The steps we are taking to reduce wolf-livestock conflicts, and to build tolerance among local residents living with wolves, have greatly contributed to the successful return of wolves to Yellowstone and throughout the Northern Rockies. Our members and supporters are very important partners in this effort—we thank you for helping restore and protect the future of wolves.
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